SHAM CONVICTION : TOP DRAWER
It would be the first occasion in the last three decades that the familiar face and joke-laced oratory of Lalu Prasad Yadav would be missing from the upcoming Bihar state legislative assembly elections. Lalu got a notional relief with the Jharkhand High Court granting him bail in one of the many cases relating to the infamous fodder scam. He would, however, continue to be in confinement until he gets bail in all cases. It is highly unlikely that he would walk out of confinement before the last of the votes are cast in Bihar on November 7.
Let there be no doubt over why I am using the word confinement instead of prison in case of Lalu. He was convicted to serve seven years in prison and by now he has completed half the term. Legally he is entitled to bail now due to his ‘good conduct’. The question to be asked is, how many months or day has he spent in jail by now?
I often wonder why a politician, as soon as he gets arrested, becomes sick. Instead of being lodged in prison, they live in a hospital, where they are treated like VIPs. The only restriction they face is that without the court permission, they cannot step out of the hospital. They enjoy all perks and facilities, which is normally not permitted inside a jail where beyond a ceiling fan, everything else is considered a luxury.
Of course, Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is a junior partner the Hemant Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand. But the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Indian National Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition came to power in the state December last only. Prior to that, the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power in Jharkhand and BJP never had any understanding with Lalu or his RJD.
In fact, there is an unwritten understanding amongst politicians. They might criticise and abuse each other in the run-up to an election, threaten to put each other in jail if voted to power, but that is all for the public consumption. Barring a few instances, one has not seen a politician being sent to jail. Even if they are, they get VIP treatment and do not live the life of a common prisoner. Even if arrested on court orders, it is rare to find a politician who held an important position in the past, being made to undergo rigours associated with a convicted prisoner for a similar crime.
The last famous case where a big politician was actually sent to prison was when Chaudhary Charan Singh ordered the arrest of the former prime minister Indira Gandhi and four of her colleagues in October 1977 on corruption charges. Charan Singh was home minister in India’s first non-Congress party government. Indira Gandhi was arrested along with H.R. Gokhale, D.P. Chattopadhyaya, P.C. Sethi and K.D. Malaviya who worked under her as cabinet ministers until the Congress party was voted out of power in March 1977.
It proved to be a boon in disguise for Indira Gandhi and a lesson for others that arresting a politician without substantive proof is akin to digging one’s own grave. It’s a different story altogether that Charan Singh unashamedly sought India Gandhi’s support to form the alternative government after the Janata Party government under Morarji Desai fell after being in power for just a little over two years.
The Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014 promising, amongst other things, to send the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra to jail for his alleged corrupt land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. Modi government has been in power for over six years now, BJP is ruling in Haryana since October 2014 and was in power in Rajasthan until 2018. But Vadra continues to roam free even today.
Lalu Prasad Yadav must count himself unfortunate that he was ultimately convicted in the fodder scam, which came to light in 1996. It was not until December 2017 that Lalu was convicted and sent to jail. However, since then he has spent more time at the Jharkhand capital Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences than in the jail for some heart conditions and discomforts in jail.
He is not the only convicted former chief minister enjoying undue liberty as a prisoner. Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala was convicted and sent to serve 10 years in prison in January 2013 for his alleged involvement in the teachers' recruitment scam. Chautala is often seen being at Gurgaon’s Medanta hospital whenever he is not out on bail or parole. He has been out of prison ever since the Coronavirus pandemic struck and indulges in all political activities freely. And when he is actually lodged inside Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail, a raid conducted last year revealed that he enjoyed facilities of a personal attendant who would cook his choicest food inside his cell, which had mobile phones, television and cooler, etc. – all banned items inside the prison.
Ever wondered why a party in power does not send a political adversary to prison? The answer is simple. No one is above the board and are supposed to be involved in corruption in some degrees. The unwritten understanding is not to touch each other. Allegations and corruption charges are all poll gimmicks that are meant for public consumption. The definition of democracy – of the people, for the people and by the people is a sham that does not apply to Indian politicians who are not there to serve the people but are born to rule the masses.